Re: Glorantha Miniatures

From: altfritz <green27_at_...>
Date: Sun, 14 Apr 2002 09:18:08 -0400

>Message: 4

  >  Date: Sat, 13 Apr 2002 12:36:30 -0700

> From: "Roderick and Ellen Robertson" <rjremr_at_...>
>Subject: Re: Glorantha Miniatures
>
>> Any more news on the Glorantha miniatures?
>
>The Lance & laser ones will probably not be out by the end of March... I'm
>certainly looking forward to them more than the Dark Age/Archive ones.
>
>
>> I've seen the pics of the first sets...
>>
>> They do look good, however, I wish they were more "wargamer friendly"
>> rather than being organised for rpgs. :-( ie. Unit packs would be nice.
>
>What types of units are you looking for? There are a lot of Ancients ranges
>out there that will fit the bill for a lot of units. While they won't be
>exact (hey, these hoplites don't have scimitars!), they will work. Ask away,
>I can probably come up with ranges for you.
>

Hi Roderick,

I am well aware of all the 25mm ranges, being primarily a wargamer and then a role-player second.

(Slipping slightly into Rant mode... )

My complaint [or comment] is at the way the new Glorantha range is being marketed. Single figures per blister for the Heros and personalities makes sense and is the way to go. Three figure packs of troopers--ie. "Lunar Warband", etc--makes no sense at all. From both the rpg and wargaming camps. How is one supposed to build units? Where are the command figures (Officer, Musician and Standard - as applicable?) If I am building wargame units I would typically want 20-24 figures per unit with 1-3 poses of basic trooper and a command complement. Similarly, if one were to want to represent the player party encountering a Lunar patrol in a tabletop rpg the current blister packaging fails again. How is the referee supposed to represent the 10 Thunder Delta Slingers his Orlanthi have encountered? Buy the 10 blisters of "Lunar Warband" (getting 20 extra figures he may or may not use?) Or say, "Pass - Lets see which of the 15-20 Historical miniature ranges out there is a better match?"

I hope the Marketing Guru's who thought this up will rethink this before they release the line. A far better way, would be to:

1. Release 1-3 poses of the regular troopers. These could be sold separately or in a blister together. Then have single figures for the Officer, Musician and Standard. In addition, you could sell "Unit Packs" (or "Unit Builders", as some companies call them.) These could either be a complete 20-man unit (with command inc) or slightly smaller with 9 troopers and 1 Officer per pack (with the Musician and Standard still sold separately).
2. Release larger blisters of 4-8 figures (ala Wargames Foundry or Black Tree Designs.) Have one blister of troopers and a command/personality blister per unit type. The troopers might be multiple of the same or similar poses or might all be different, it doesn't matter that much. Ideally, they would all be different, even if only slightly, but the important thing is to be able to build a unit of the size you need without having to buy figures you don't want in the process. With this system, a nice sized unit might consist of 2 trooper blisters and one command blister giving 24 figures in a unit. If I were doing Thunder Delta Slingers I would probably split this into two 12-man Skirmish units on the tabletop. If I was building a Lunar Phalanx I would personally want a larger unit and so would add a third trooper pack, giving me a phalanx 8 figures wide by 4 deep (32-men).

Either system would be superior to that currently proposed. Get out of the old "tabletop RPG" mindset as represented by Ral Partha's various rpg-themed ranges. In case you hadn't noticed, Ral Partha is dead! And do LARPers even use figures? Methinks the answer is "No!" So why market to them? Market to those that will actually buy your figures in a reasonable quantity. Market to the Wargamers!

Now I realise that no one wants to take a big risk and produce multiple-figure blisters for an untried market. But you would not be selling to Glorantha fans alone as there are many fantasy wargamers out there who would use the figures in a non-gloranthan environment. The majority of my games would certainly be non-gloranthan. Even if you want to "play it safe", release all the figures as singles. Don't force me to buy 20 figures can't immediately use just to get 10 Thunder Delta Slingers! If you do that, chances are I won't bother to buy any.

I hope Greg, or somebody "in charge", reads this and hopefully gives it some thought. If he (or they) don't get this list -- and you know it -- please pass this on.

Regards,

Howard Fielding